Being at Genetic Risk: Toward a Rhetoric of Care (RSA Series in Transdisciplinary Rhetoric) - Hardcover

Pender, Kelly

 
9780271082103: Being at Genetic Risk: Toward a Rhetoric of Care (RSA Series in Transdisciplinary Rhetoric)
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0271082100 ISBN 13: 9780271082103
Publisher: Penn State University Press, 2018

Synopsis

Rhetorics of choice have dominated the biosocial discourses surrounding BRCA risk for decades, telling women at genetic risk for breast and ovarian cancers that they are free to choose how (and whether) to deal with their risk. Critics argue that women at genetic risk are, in fact, not free to choose but rather are forced to make particular choices. In Being at Genetic Risk, Kelly Pender argues for a change in the conversation around genetic risk that focuses less on choice and more on care.

Being at Genetic Risk offers a new set of conceptual starting points for understanding what is at stake with a BRCA diagnosis and what the focus on choice obstructs from view. Through a praxiographic reading of the medical practices associated with BRCA risk, Pender’s analysis shows that genetic risk is not just something BRCA+ women know, but also something that they do. It is through this doing that genetic cancer risk becomes a reality in their lives, one that we can explain but not one that we can explain away.

Well researched and thoughtfully argued, Being at Genetic Risk will be welcomed by scholars of rhetoric and communication, particularly those who work in the rhetoric of science, technology, and medicine, as well as scholars in allied fields who study the social, ethical, and political implications of genetic medicine. Pender’s insight will also be of interest to organizations that advocate for those at genetic risk of breast and ovarian cancers.

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About the Author

Kelly Pender is Associate Professor of English at Virginia Tech. She is the author of Technē, from Neoclassicism to Postmodernism: Understanding Writing as a Useful, Teachable Art.

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Publisher
Penn State University Press
Publication date
2018
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0271082100
ISBN 13 
9780271082103
Binding
Hardcover
Edition number
1
Number of pages
184

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780271082110: Being at Genetic Risk: Toward a Rhetoric of Care (RSA Series in Transdisciplinary Rhetoric)

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  0271082119 ISBN 13:  9780271082110
Publisher: Penn State University Press, 2022
Softcover